That's nice, but it wouldn't work all the time. Sometimes the reasons for bad code no longer apply, and the code in question doesn't get updated because there are higher priorities.
>> and the code in question doesn't get updated because there are higher priorities
Well, don't criticize then unless you want to own it. There's a variation of this advice wrt communicating with your boss, which is blindingly obvious to anyone who's ever been a manager, but rarely obvious to the subordinate: don't come to me with problems. Any idiot can do that, and many do. Come to me with solutions, or at the very least a proposal on how to solve problems that you're prepared to follow through on. This is basically the surest way to advance your career on any team, yet people just don't do it. Nobody likes the complainer, everyone, especially managers, likes the problem solver.
The question was how to deal with newcomers' arrogance, and your suggestion is to have them try and fix things to find out why it needed a bad solution.
What I tried to reply to you is that they may have no problems fixing the bad code because the reason for it to be bad may be gone.
Now, if I understand correctly, your reply to that is to "threaten" them with having to fix it? The point of my comment was that they'll have no problem in fixing it and they'll keep being arrogant because they'll "prove" that there was no reason for it to be bad.
EDIT: s/shitty/bad/. I meant no offense to anyone.
No, to "threaten" anyone in a professional context is a noob move, it doesn't work. You (or your boss if you're not a manager) just say something to the effect of: "on this team, if you don't like something, you don't just criticize, you go ahead and fix it". Basically, make empty bitching, moaning, and derision, socially unacceptable, and cultivate the sense of ownership. If nobody owns problems, they don't get fixed.
That's exactly what it is. Does the fact that I have succeeded in doing a task better than another person (knowing above all that the context is not the same) give me the right to ridicule or criticize him/her beyond necessary? That's why I think the strategy suggested by m0zg may have limits... But again, this is the first time I'm confronted with this situation, so I don't really know.
Well, don't criticize then unless you want to own it. There's a variation of this advice wrt communicating with your boss, which is blindingly obvious to anyone who's ever been a manager, but rarely obvious to the subordinate: don't come to me with problems. Any idiot can do that, and many do. Come to me with solutions, or at the very least a proposal on how to solve problems that you're prepared to follow through on. This is basically the surest way to advance your career on any team, yet people just don't do it. Nobody likes the complainer, everyone, especially managers, likes the problem solver.